1. Writing

2. Politics

3. References

Sotero Figueroa Hernandez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in April 1851. He studied at the school of Rafael Cordero in San Juan, and was later known for his work as a journalist, dramatist, speaker and author of biographical essays. He was also a loyal defender of Puerto Rican and Cuban independence. Figueroa died and was buried in Cuba in 1923.

Writing

Before moving to New York, Figueroa’s first job as a writer in Puerto Rico was in Ramon Marín’s print shop, Establicimiento Tipográphico; there he wrote pieces for La Crónica and El Pueblo and acted as editor of these in Marín's absence. Months before he left Puerto Rico for the United States, Sotero began writing Ensayo Biográfico (Biographical Essay) in which there were biographical sketches of those “...who had most contributed to the progress of Puerto Rico."^[1] In the Biographical Essays, there are also passages about race, castes, and slavery in Puerto Rico citing laws that make poor black men inferior. As a black man living in Puerto Rico, he often wrote about how unfairly he and his fellow men were treated.

Figueroa began a print shop, after moving to New York in 1889; Imprenta America would serve as the publishing house for revolutionary newspapers such as Jose Martí’s La Patria and El Porvernir.^[2] After the Cuban War of Independence, Figueroa moved to Cuba and often published articles in Cuban newspapers such as El Fígaro, La Discusíon, and La Gaceta.^[3] He died in 1923 and in 1977 his book, La Verdad De La Historia was published in Puerto Rico posthumously.

Politics

Sotero Figueroa’s writings were also tied to his political beliefs. Figueroa, Ramón Marín, and Francisco Gonzalo (Pachín) Marín together worked to reform politics in Puerto Rico in the late 1800s. Their mission was make equality a reality by expelling the ideals of rank and class and promoting instead a focus on “individual merit”.^[4] They believed that castes that existed were put on the public by Spanish colonial control and limited the Puerto Rican population’s growth economically, politically, and physically. At age 22, Figueroa was chosen as an assembly leader under Rafael Primo de Rivera, the new liberal Governor of Puerto Rico.^[4]

References

• Adams, John
• Adams, John Couch
• Adams, John James
• Adams, John Quincy
• Adamski
• Adam Skirving
• Adams Lake
• Adams, Louisa
• Adams, Louisa Catherine
• Adams (lunar crater)
• Adams, MA
• Adam's Mark
• Adam's Mark Hotel
• Adam's Mark Hotels
• Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts
• Adams, Massachusetts
• Adams Mine
• Adams, Minnesota
• Adam Smith
• Adam Smith (disambiguation)
• Adam Smith Institute
• Adam Smith (Kentucky)
• Adam Smith (KY politician)
• Adam Smith (politician)
• Adam Smith University